Working Class and Middle Class in the Age of Brexit: Social Commentary by Contemporary Post-punk Bands

Since 2016, a new trend has emerged within British indie rock music with a substantial number of new bands achieving commercial and critical success whilst positioning themselves as post-punk acts. The influence of the original punk and post-punk waves of the late 1970s is indeed palpable nowadays among such contemporary bands as Shame, IDLES, Yard Act, Squid, Hotel Lux or Sports Team, whose riff-heavy guitar sounds appear undoubtedly indebted to The Clash or The Fall, to name but a few. However, the factor which contributes the most to the consideration of this new wave within British indie rock as a cohesive set lies in the rife social commentary offered by their lyrics. Just as original punk forefathers of the 1970s could not fail to let their aggressive music and politicised texts be shaped and informed by a context of socio-economic crisis, today’s bands like IDLES and Yard Act have come to describe the state of Britain in the age of Brexit in an articulate manner. More specifically, a majority of songs by the aforementioned bands seem to adopt the working class’s vantage point and paint a grim picture of life in the United Kingdom since the EU referendum in 2016, focusing on economic hardships, a polarised political opinion and a widening gap with the middle class.